Illusive Images
by nagami cabasa
Summary: After Zelda is taken away to Ganon's castle, Link thinks about the humongous duty that has been placed upon him... and then does something not one person in Hyrule ever expected. Attempt at dark fiction. :: FinisheD ::


**_UPDATE: July, 2003:_** I've renamed the fic and fixed a few errors that the readers pointed out. Thank you guys for your reviews! ^_^V ... Oh! One more thing! *raises fist into the air* I AM FUNNY NO MATTER WHAT!! EVEN WHEN WRITING A GOREY, BLOODY STORY!!! :D *ahem* Okay. That's all. ^^;; (That probably killed the whole theme of the fic... XD)

**Disclaimer:** The Legend of Zelda and all related things do not belong to me.

**A/N: **My first ever "dark" fic. Inspired from other fics similar to this. This is just a little warm up for a story I'm planning to write in the future. Right now, I'm experimenting with different genres, and since humor is usually my thing, writing a dark horror/angst fic is sort of hard. (XD;;) I'm also trying to be a descriptive writer in my future serious fics... so that's sort of hard also! By the way, for serious stories like this without humor, the format will be different. Why? Because I said so! ^_^V  
I'm not sure if I should rate this PG-13 or R.... can any "professional raters" help me out here? ^-^  
And yeah, they story _is_ cliché, isn't it?

**Warning:** Contains blood and squeamish scenes. Don't read if you have a weak stomach... or maybe read it anyway. ^^;;

**] --~*~-- [**

            _'Please... please rescue Hyrule...'_

            The words that Princess Zelda whispered to him a few moments ago echoed in his mind.

            _'Please... Hyrule's fate is on your shoulders...'_

            '_On my shoulders?'__ Link thought, walking out of the Temple of Time. '_So the whole fate of Hyrule is up to me... if I mess up, the entire world will go into chaos...' _Navi slowly flew out of Link's long green hat and glanced worriedly at the adult Hylian. "Are you okay?"_

            Link shook his head, trying to clear his mind. The pressure of rescuing Hyrule was getting to him. "I... I-I'm fine, Navi," the hero replied slowly, sitting down on the steps of the Temple. "Let me rest for a while...."

            "You can not rest here, Link. It is too dangerous and there are Redeads everywhere. Maybe we should find another place to rest?"

            However, she was too late. Link had fallen asleep already, sitting on the steps of the Temple of Time.

**] - [**

            Eyes fluttering open, the Hero of Time awoke to nothing in particular. Sitting beside him was his small fairy, idly twiddling her thumbs, waiting for Link to wake up. When finally she noticed him gazing at her, Navi flew up and hovered in front of Link's face, smiling. "Good morning to you too, Hero." She greeted.

            Link did not respond with anything. He just sat and stared at his hands. Everything that happened to him before he fell asleep all came rushing back to him like a brick hitting him right on the head. Even sleeping for a while did not help him lessen the pressure. He once again realized the humungous weight that was taken upon him; the pressure to rescue Hyrule and restore everything to peace. _'It's so difficult...' he thought miserably. _'Does Zelda even care how _I _feel about doing all this?'__

"Link? Is there anything wrong?" Navi asked in a small voice. It seemed to her as if she should speak silently, and that if she ever spoke in a loud voice, something terrible would happen. The Hero of Time stood up and walked forward, still in a deep train of thought. The speech Zelda recited to him when they first met as kids crossed his mind. _"We must rescue Hyrule!" Zelda said. He thought the same thing over and over again... __'Fate... this is my fate? My destiny? To kill so many things just to rescue one prophetic Princess and a small measly land?'_

            Link remembered the first time that he had to kill.

**-**

            _"Link! Slash the Deku Baba with your sword before it hurts you!" Navi said urgently. The small 11-year-old looked up, eyes wide, at the monster. "B-But Navi, d-do I have to kill it?" he said. _

_            "Well, if you want to get through to the Deku Tree, then you must!"_

_            "Isn't there another way? Can't I go through without killing it?"_

_            "Link! ... Wait, no! DON'T!!"_

_            The mini hero sheathed his sword, and now was running to an open passage. The Deku Baba was to the right. As he almost reached the other side, the Baba had struck him in lightning speed, and Link was reeled back to the place where Mido once stood. Navi gasped and flew towards him. "Link! Are you okay?"_

_            Link drew in a quivering breath. "Yeah, I-It's just my arm..."_

_            "What do you mean; it's _just_ your arm! Look at it! It's bleeding to death!"_

_            "You're over-exaggerating, Navi," Link replied softly. Getting up, he murmured, "I'm trying again..." Then he dashed towards the space between the Baba and the wall._

_            "Don't be foolish! Stop!"_

_            Again, the Deku Baba struck the blond-haired-boy, this time on his left ankle. Link groaned and clutched his injured body part.  "Oww!! Ugh..."_

_            Navi flew up to him again. "You must kill it, Link! That's the only way to get through!"_

_            "But Navi, I don't want to kill!" Link cried desperately._

_            "Well, you must!"                                     _

_            Gulping, Link stood up and unsheathed his sword. Slowly walking up to the Deku Baba, he raised a shaking left hand. "LINK! STRIKE NOW!" Navi screamed. With a shout and shutting his eyes tight, Link slashed the Deku Baba in half. Green blood oozed out of its head as it fell to the floor. He felt something in his heart: hurt. Even if it _was _evil... he still didn't want to kill it. "C'mon Link," Navi said. "Let's continue."_

_            And they walked on to the Great Deku Tree, where more killing would take place._

**-**

            Link grimaced by the memory. He did not want to kill. It was not his nature. Link had a kind and golden heart; he would not hurt a fly to tell the truth. However, he had to, just to... rescue this land. Every slash he made upon another creature made a gash in his heart; and as he watched the creature collapse to its death, the gash became even deeper.

_            'The things you have had to slay were under the influence of evil,' _said a voice in his mind.  
            _'Even if they were _evil, aren't they still living?' _another voice retorted.  
            __'They were not living... they were desperate, dead creatures who have been carelessly reincarnated into monsters.'  
            __'Monsters, yes. But they were once exuberant, lively souls, were they not?'_

The two voices in Link's mind battled each other for a disturbing while. When suddenly both sides had languished into Link's subconscious, he realized something about himself that he never thought about before. Not just that he was probably going insane, but...

            _'I'm a killer....'_

A sudden pain pounded in Link's head, and his hands flew to his skull, grasping it tightly. The pain in his heart shut his midnight blue eyes tight. Falling to his knees, the Hero shook his head back and forth crazily, not being able to handle what his mind had composed.

            _'I'm a killer! Not a hero! I didn't want to kill! How can everyone all think of me like this?! No one knows how I really feel! No one knows what I have to go through! They don't care how I truly feel deep inside! All they want from me is to save Zelda and her stupid land! Nobody cares!' From what was once a harmless thought rose a panicked statement; and it was official:_

            Link had cracked.

            _'I'll end this all right now! By killing all the inhabitants of Hyrule! There will be no need to rescue this land, for there will be no one to rescue it for! They will all die by my hands! The hands of who they thought were supposed to be a hero!!' Link thought, many other thoughts racing through his scarred mind. The gashes in his heart had all disappeared, and were now replaced by an evil urge to __kill._

            His Guardian Fairy worriedly flew up in front of his face. "Link? What's wrong? What's happening?"

            _'I'll start with her, first...' he thought madly. Rising to his feet, he grasped the hilt of the Master Sword and swiftly pulled it out. _

            "Link? Are you okay?" Navi asked again. With one rapid, coordinated move, Link swung his sword in a low half-circle.

            Blood. Everywhere. At least where Navi stood at. Link had decapitated her, without even looking. Her small dainty head had fallen off, and plunged towards the dead dirt. It landed with a thud, and crimson blood spilled out of her open neck. Navi's lifeless body collapsed along with it, and had fallen to the ground.

            Link glanced at his dead fairy, his lifeless companion, his decapitated partner throughout his journey in Hyrule. He no longer cared for her. Link knelt down, touching the fresh blood with her fingers. He raised a finger to examine it carefully. After a while, Link wiped his finger on the ground in a pattern. It now spelled, "Hero of Time". Standing up again and sheathing his sword, he exited the site.

**] - [**

            The Hero of Time exited the dead remains of the once flourishing Market. _'Where to next... ?' he thought, the mind of a real murderer replacing the brave, courageous and witty brain he once had. On the outside, his entire body was calm and collected, but inside, he thought things he never regarded in the past. Slowly looking around, Link looked for another place to wreak havoc. This time, he spotted the ranch._

            _'There we go...'_

**] - [**

            Expecting the usual greeting Link gets all the time, he walked around silently in the ranch. _'Where is everyone? I must kill them all...' _thought Link sadistically. As he walked deeper into the heart of the place, he heard the singing of a soothing melody. Link walked towards the source; there was Malon, in the center of the paddock, singing her song that her own mother had composed.__

            _'Enjoy singing your little song there, Mal,' Link thought, smiling evilly as he walked towards her. __'This'll be the last time you'll ever __sing alive again...'_

The sound of grass crunching reached the ranch girl's ears. Turning around, she spotted the Hero of Time walking towards her. "Why, hello Link!" she said cheerfully. "How are things in the world?" Link did not respond. "Um, how is Epona? Have you been training with her lately?" She smiled sweetly at the man.

            With the same rapid movement he had used on Navi, Link unsheathed the Master Sword, grasped Malon's shoulder with one hand, and drove it through her stomach and rib cage.

            All the horses around them halted what they were doing and stared. They stared at the red blood dripping down the ranch girl's dress; the blood smothered all over the green-clothed man's left arm as he held the Master Sword in place. His sadistic smile had vanished, a serious, deathly glare instead. The ranch girl's smile disappeared, and a shocked, painful look crossed her face. Her eyes widened in pain, and crimson liquid oozed out of her mouth, dripping down the sides, down her arms, and finally to the floor. Her dress was stained, and blood gushed out of her eyes as well.

            Finally deciding to collect his sword again, Link roughly pulled out the Master Sword. He still grasped Malon's shoulder while carefully staring at blood stained on the gleaming metal of the sword. Letting her go, Link held the sword in his hand as he walked away. Malon's legs gave out and she fell down lifeless into a pool of her own crimson blood.

            As he was about to exit, he heard the war cries of two men. Turning around slowly, he saw Talon and Ingo holding up pitchforks. 

            "I can't believe what you have done to my daughter!!" Talon cried through his tears. "I thought we could trust you, Link!"

            "I knew that kid was bad news from the beginning!" snarled Ingo, threatening the Hero with his pitchfork.

            "GET HIM!!"

            The two ranch workers ran to Link, swiping at him at the same time. Link jumped up behind Talon and dropkicked him, making the middle-aged man fall to the ground on his back. The Hero stood over him and glanced at his sword in his left hand and then decapitated the owner of the ranch.

            Ingo watched in horror as Link spun around to face him. Holding up his pitchfork, he yelled, "Don't come near me! Get away! You beast!"

            Link's eye twitched. "First, everyone calls me a Hero!" he screamed miserably, "Now I'm a beast?!" Running towards Ingo, he slashed at the man, cleanly slicing him in half. Organs poured out of his body as he slumped on the ground. Link glared at Ingo's pale, dead face, and spat at it. He never liked him.

            The Hero of Time looked over the ranch. Crimson blood mingled with emerald grass. He thought one word before bolting out of the ranch...

            _'Kakariko...'_

**] - [**

"Welcome to Kakariko Village, the current time is 2:33pm!" said the clock guard at the entrance of the village. Link glared at him, ripped off all his armor with his bare hands, and stabbed the soldier through the heart. Instant kill. Pulling the sword out again, Link glanced at the blood dripping from it and sheathed it. The soldier slumped to the ground, fresh blood pouring out of his wound and all over his uniform.

            Link continued walking into the village and saw the happy villagers do their own things. 

            _'All of them are joyful...' he thought. __'Why can't I be joyful? Why is it that they can live their simple, happy life while I have to go about killing things for their own sake?! It's so unfair!!' he screamed in his mind. _

            Unsheathing his sword once again, Link cried out and ran through the village, slashing madly. He ran up to the two yakking men at the tree and sliced them both in half; blood, organs, spilling out. Deciding that he needed more, he ran up the stairs to the right and saw the cucco lady. He killed her as well, too, by driving his sword through her head, and kicking the dead body.

            One by one, each person in the village of Kakariko was slaughtered violently by the hands of the Hero of Time. He even burst into the houses, slaying the most innocent of children, executing the most kindest of adults, and taking the life away from every single animal.

            In a mere half hour, the population of Kakariko has turned into one, scary, round number: 0. Everything was splattered by blood, the walls, the trees, the plants, and especially the grass. Everything under the sun of Kakariko was dead, and an eerie, cold wind tore through the village.

            Link had annihilated all of them. All of them. It was a bloodbath.

            And he thought... _'... I need more...'_

**] - [**

            Link sprinted towards Ganon's Castle. _'I need more... I must kill the one who drove me to what I have become now... Zelda...' _he hissed in his mind. _'I must find her... AND KILL HER!!!'_

            The former Hero burst into Ganon's castle and brought every single living dead creature to their ultimate death. He no longer received the gashes in his heart as he would before. He did not care that they were once living. Instead, when he killed something, he needed more. He needed to kill. It was his life now. To KILL_._

            Running up towards the tower of the castle, Link easily defeated the enemies standing in the way. Finally opening the door to the final room, he saw The King of Evil himself playing a haunting tune on his church organ. The Princess of Hyrule was positioned high above the organ, trapped in a pink transparent crystal. Noticing Link's presence, Ganondorf paused, and stood up.

            "Welcome, Hero of Time." He greeted. Link did not respond. Instead, he just unsheathed his sword. Ganondorf put on an evil smile. "I have been catching up to what you were doing. Slaughtering. Killing. And you have come here for one purpose, is that right, Triforce holder?" Link nodded. "I shall grant your desire."

            "What do you mean, 'grant his desire'?! You _do _know that he is going to defeat you once and for all, right Ganondorf?!" Zelda screamed from her crystal.

            Ganondorf laughed deeply and raised a hand. The crystal came descending down between he and Link, and disappeared, leaving Zelda free. She blinked several times and looked around. "I'm... free... ?"

            "Yes." The King of Evil said flatly. He glanced at Link. "What is your next move, Hero?"

            Zelda raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about, you pitiful fool?" 

            Screaming an obscenity, Link ran towards Zelda, raising his sword high. She gasped and jumped back. "What are you doing, Link?!"

            "Killing you!" he screamed back. "I'm killing you for all you've done to me! For doing this to me! I blame _you!!!" _Link screamed, his voice full of hatred and despise. Running towards Zelda again, he grasped her arm before she could evade again, and drove the Master Sword through her heart. The Princess's eyes rolled back into her head, blood gurgled out of her mouth, and she dropped lifeless onto the cold tile floor.

            Link panted heavily. _'I... still... hate you... for everything... for everything I had to go through... you dragged me into it... you didn't care how I felt... this is all _your _fault...'_

"Mua ha ha ha ha!" Ganondorf laughed, floating up into the air. "You have finally killed Zelda, Link! Good job! Ha ha!"

            The Hero looked up at Ganondorf. "Shut up!" Ganondorf halted his insane laughing. "I also blame _you_!! If you didn't have to be so darn greedy, this would've never happened to me! Why couldn't you be satisfied with what you had?! You were _already the King of the Gerudos! Gerudo Valley! But no, you had to be avaricious and wanted Hyrule to yourself!! You _DIE NOW!!"_ With that, Link leapt up an amazing height and tried to decapitate his arch enemy, but there was an invisible force field in the way. _

            "Do you think that you could easily defeat me like this? You pathetic Hylian!" Ganondorf spat. He pointed at the Princess' dead corpse. "This? You blame me for all you have done? You blame me for killing your friends and the ones dear to you? Foolish being!" he lowered the barrier and slapped Link, making him fall to the ground in pain. "This is all your doing! Not mine! I wanted Hyrule, so what?! It is not my fault that a brainless moron like you annihilated everyone you knew!"

            Link shakily breathed in some air and looked at his hands. They were covered in dry crimson blood from Malon and the fresh red blood from Zelda. He stared at his sword which was smothered with the blood of the Kakariko villagers. _'My fault...?'_

Suddenly, a transpicuous figure stood up from Zelda's lifeless body. It was Zelda... no, it was not Zelda. It was the Princess's spirit. It floated over to where Link was kneeling at and bent over, cupping the Hero's chin in a see-through glove.

            "Yes, Link," It whispered to him in a far off sounding voice. "This is all your doing... I'm sorry I could not stop you.... but it is too late. Goodbye... "Hero" of Time..." she smiled hauntingly at him, and dissolved into mist. Link reached out to where the spirit was once at. "No..."

            "It is all your doing." Ganondorf repeated again. Link looked over at Ganondorf, who had begun dissolving into mist also. He stood up, grasped his sword and ran to where Ganondorf once stood at. It was too late. "What? What's happening? This can't be true! It's not my fault!" Sinking down into his knees again, he began to stare at his shaking hands again. 

            All he saw was crimson blood.

            Blood.

            Everybody's blood but his own.

            "No... this can't be true..." he whispered. "No!!" 

            Suddenly, Link found himself kneeling in a pitch dark area. The only light was shining upon him, a light from the Heavens. There was a cube in front of him. "What's this...?" Crawling up to the cube, Link stared into it, and then was blinded for a moment by the light emitting from it.

            Lon Lon Ranch.

            "What... what am I doing here?" Link asked no one in particular. He glanced around, and suddenly saw... himself. An exact mirror copy of himself. He himself was walking into the ranch. Link walked in front of his mirror copy and tried to touch his face, but the copy just went through him. Deciding to follow, Link watched as his copy suddenly broke into a run. The Hero ran after him.

            In the middle of the paddock, Link saw his copy unsheathing his sword while walking towards a singing Malon. Gasping in horror, he watched the copy stab Malon through the stomach. He watched the blood dripping and squirting all over. He watched the look on the ranch girl's face. He watched... himself.

            "I... did I...." stuttered Link. "Did I do that....?"

            A strong white light emitted from his copy and Malon, blinding him once again.

            The Temple of Time.

            Slowly lowering his arm, Link saw the copy of himself sitting on the steps of the Temple. A blue hovering fairy was flying in front of his face. Watching again, Link saw himself murder his own fairy. His companion. His partner.

            "N-Navi..." Link whispered. He ran over, stumbling once, but quickly recovering. He stared at the gruesome sight: his fairy's head chopped off. "Navi..." Suddenly, the copy began walking away calmly; as if he didn't care or know what just happened. "That isn't me... is it?"

            From the lifeless fairy's body came another flash of blinding white light.

            Kakariko Village.

            The entrance to Kakariko Village. Instantly predicting what he was about to see, he desperately tried to cover his eyes with his hands. "I don't want to see myself anymore! I don't want to kill anymore!" Link cried desperately, trying to raise his hands. But they wouldn't budge. He tried closing his eyes. But they refused to be constricted. "No!"

            The copy of himself walked into the village and murdered his first victim: the clock guard. Then Link watched in complete agony as his copy ran around the village, slaughtering everything in sight. He watched blood splatter onto the walls. He watched blood squirting everywhere. He watched organs pouring out of the lifeless and violently executed bodies. He watched himself carnage everything in sight.

            He shuddered in fear. He was disgusted. Not just by the scene, but also...

            ... With himself...

            "It can't... be...." Link whispered, eyes widened in complete trepidation. "I can't... this isn't..."

            Suddenly, the copy of Link ran towards the real one, sword raised. Link finally was able to close his eyes, and he took advantage of it by shutting it tight. Screaming, a light emitted from the copy and it disappeared.

            Ganon's Tower.

            Afraid of what he was going to see, he got up the courage to reopen his eyes. He was in Ganon's Tower! In his own body! But... there was a problem... he couldn't control himself. His body started moving forward without his will.

            _'W-What's happening?!' Link tried to scream out the words, but they never got through. His mouth opened without will and said something that it was not permitted to say. "Killing you! Killing you for all you've done to me! For doing this to me! ..." Link recognized these words; they were what he had said to Zelda before he had brutally murdered her. He knew what was going to happen. He knew what was happening to him..._

            His spirit was trapped in his body. His body of 15 minutes ago.

            When he murdered Zelda. And had no control over himself.

            _'No! No! Stop! Please!!' Link screamed to himself. _'Stop! Stop killing!!' _However, it was too late.___

            Zelda lay by his feet. Lifeless.

            _Dead._

The same flash from before gave off from Zelda's body. Link was once again in the darkness, and in front of him, was the cube. The cube that had showed him what he had done. Zelda and Ganondorf were right...

            _'I did to this to myself...'_

            Tears crawled down Link's flushed cheeks as he stared at himself. His hands. His clothes. His legs. His chest. Every single part of him was smothered by crimson blood. 

            _'Oh Goddesses... no...'_

            Link's eyes traveled to the left where the Master Sword lay at. _'I'll end this all right now...'  Taking the Master Sword, and hesitating before taking any action, he finally made a decision and wrangled it inside himself. Eyes rolling back, Link fell backward onto the floor. Deceased, like the rest of the world he knew._

**] - [**

            His eyes flew open in shock, and his throat exploded, making him release a blood-curdling scream. The small blue fairy to his left jumped at the sudden reaction Link gave out when she touched his cheek with a finger. Navi flew back, breathing heavily.

            "Argh! Link! You scared me so much! Don't wake up like that again!" Navi cried.

            _'Navi...' Link thought silently. He looked in front of him. There was his Guardian Fairy and lifelong friend floating in front of him, smiling kindly. _'Navi! But... I thought I killed her...'__

The fairy frowned as she saw her partner staring at the ground. "What's wrong, Link? Is anything on your mind? You can always talk to me about it." She said reassuringly. Link looked up at her and immediately faked a smile. 

            "No, it's nothing.... I just feel... tired..."

            "But you slept for four hours," Navi replied.                                              

            _'Four hours? Sleeping?' "Where are we anyway?"_

            The fairy tilted her head. "In front of the Temple of Time. Where you said that you needed to rest. Don't you remember?" she paused. "Link, are you all right?"

            _'Where I said that I needed to rest... it was... all a dream...'_

All a dream.

            That was it. None of it was real. He didn't kill any of his friends. He... he didn't kill Zelda. He didn't kill Navi. He didn't kill Malon, and he didn't kill the Kakariko villagers. Link breathed a sigh of half-relief, and looked at his hands. They were clean. No blood. Just his brown gauntlets. Raising a hand to his forehead, Link stood up. Navi flew up by his side with indefatigability. "We should get going, Link. We have to rescue Zelda."

            _'Rescue Zelda...'_

Link still felt bad because of all the things he killed. Living or not, they were still creatures. And he _still didn't like to kill. Even if they were just the most evil of evils. _'I still blame Zelda, for dragging me into this. But I won't kill her. I would never kill her. This is my destiny. My fate. I must have no complaints.'__

            Shaking his head, but still keeping his dream in his head; actually, it was more like a nightmare; Link unsheathed the Master Sword and glanced at Ganon's Castle. "Yes... we should get going. C'mon Navi."

            With that, the two left to rescue Zelda and Hyrule. Whether Link liked it or not.

**] --~*~-- [**

**A/N:** *pauses* Oh Goddesses, that sucks! ^__^;;

Okay so anyway, it's finished! I hope you enjoyed it. Sort of. How can someone enjoy a short horror story like this? O.o Um, nevermind that last question! Please R+R, and tell me what you think of my horror/angst writing skills! (Yes, I know I'm really awful at it.... I'm a beginner for this kind of genre. ^-^;;) And also, should I write that new fic I was talking about earlier? And was there some part in this fic that you thought was funny? Or somewhat funny? If you do, then tell me; I need to fix that in my writing... some serious things I write end up funny, to tell the truth. O_o;;

**~L-Gurl**

P.S. - Yes, I know that this one shot fic was short. But that's okay. I saw shorter ones.  
P.P.S. - Flames are welcome. Nice reviews and suggestions are gladly accepted.


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